1. Field of the Disclosed and Claimed Concept
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device with screen objects arranged on a display to optimize blind selection by a user of the electronic device.
2. Background of the Disclosed and Claimed Concept
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Such handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable, and thus are relatively small. Many handheld electronic devices also features wireless communication capability, although many such handheld electronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional without communication with other devices. With advances in technology, handheld electronic devices are being configured to include greater numbers of features while having relatively smaller form factors.
A user can interact or interface with a handheld electronic device in many fashions such as, for example, by actuating keys to provide inputs and by viewing outputs depicted on a display, as well as in numerous other fashions. It is desirable to configure a handheld electronic device to enable a user to provide inputs with minimal effort, because features that are complicated to use will simply be ignored by a user and left unused, thereby becoming of no value. Because of the generally competing considerations of reducing size of a handheld electronic device while increasing the complexity and versatility of the device, the various input devices on recent handheld electronic devices have often either been made relatively small or made to have multiple functions associated therewith, or both, and this can have the undesirable effect of complicating user inputs.
Efforts have been made to reduce the size of handheld electronic devices while maintaining or increasing their versatility by providing relatively fewer input members such as keys and by assigning multiple functions to at least some of the keys, including multiple linguistic elements such as letters, strokes, ideograms, and the like, as well as digits. Such a keyboard has been referred to as a reduced keyboard. Such handheld electronic devices will typically include a user interface having a routine that interprets the inputs from such input members. For instance, the user interface may provide for multitap input wherein a user actuates a key a number of times corresponding with the position of the desired linguistic element on a key. Another type of input routine is a disambiguation routine that performs a disambiguation function. That is, in response to an actuation of a key having multiple linguistic elements assigned thereto, the disambiguation routine outputs a linguistic element that is assumed to have been intended by the user based on various prediction models. Such a disambiguation routine typically will also output alternative linguistic elements or other types of alternative outputs intended to facilitate user input.
However, such efforts to reduce the physical size of the keyboard have resulted in keyboards that are less desirable than full-sized keyboards for use in navigating menus and selecting screen objects presented on displays, including objects corresponding to applications, functions within applications, or pieces of data to be used with applications. In answer to this, alternatives to keyboards and other groupings of keys have been provided on handheld electronic devices in the form of rollerballs, trackballs, joysticks and touchpads, just to name a few. However, the increasing quantity and complexity of applications available on handheld electronic devices can counteract the ease of use that these alternatives might otherwise offer, and the competing considerations of reducing the overall size of an electronic device while increasing functionality in a manner that doesn't overtax a user continues.
Adding to the issue of these competing considerations is the fact that as handheld electronic devices continue to be reduced further in size, it has started to become more commonplace for users of handheld devices to operate them in a manner in which the handheld device remains in pocket or holster, with the user seeking to operate the controls of those handheld devices with only one hand and without pulling them out and looking at them. In other words, users increasing seek to operate handheld devices by touch, alone, i.e., blindly, often by finding a control with their fingertips and remembering to operate a particular control in a particular way to achieve a particular function. A need exists to provide a user with the ability to select applications and/or pieces of data on a handheld electronic device in a manner that is amenable to both blind operation and the more conventional mode of sighted operation.
Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.